What is Slovak Food?
What is Slovak food? I have never heard of it!
You are not alone. The traditional food of Slovakia is not exactly well known around the world. And this is a huge shame. Slovak may not be the most low-fat cuisine out there (but then, little fat is good for you), but it is very wholesome, down-to-earth cooking. It’s like spending everyday at your grandparents. Slovak food is very cheap, easy to cook, and best of all, extremely delicious!
Slovak Cuisine
The cuisine has its origin in the diverse Slovak geography. The landscapes vary from flat lowlands of the Danube valley in the south, through the wine producing Tokaj region in the east, to the snow-capped alpine peaks of the Tatra mountains in the north. Traditionally, Slovakia was a land of simple peasants, who spent their days working in the fields or watching after sheep in the mountains. The cuisine evolved from the ingredients people grew in their gardens, or from the products of the animals they raised. Potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and onions make the basis of many dishes. These are supplemented by chicken, pork, and to a lesser degree beef. And then there are the sheep. Besides mutton (which isn’t actually all that common), sheep produced various cheese products, including a feta-like cheese called bryndza and the smoked cheese oštiepok.
I put this page to give you a better idea of the kinds of dishes people eat in Slovakia (and to a large extent also in the Czech republic). It highlights some of my favorite dishes, with links to the recipes. It will also give you an idea of the kinds of dishes you may expect to find in a typical Slovak restaurant.
My favorite Slovak dishes
My favorite Slovak dish, by far, is kapustnica, sauerkraut soup made with smoked meats and dried mushrooms. This soup has such a great taste and is also quite filling. It is traditionally eaten on Christmas as the first course followed by fried fish with potato salad, another of my favorites. If there is only one dish you make from this website, make sure it is kapustnica. You will not regret it. It really is delicious. It is especially good the day after you make it. There is something about the soup sitting in the fridge overnight that makes the flavor really come out.
Another of my favorites are plum dumplings. These are not very common in restaurants, but are one of those grandma recipes you could always count on when visiting grandparents in the country. Although they are sweet, they are eaten as the main course. My grandma would typically first serve me chicken noodle soup (with home-made noodles!), and then bring out plum dumplings. She would often top them with crushed walnuts instead of poppy seeds. This is another dish you should try making. They are quite easy to prepare and have a taste much different from anything commonly available in the United States. Another great sweet treat are buchty, sweet dough buns filled with cottage cheese, jam, or poppy seed mix. During Christmas, the holiday table will contain a wide assortment of sweets, such as rum balls and bear paws.
A great meaty main dish is segedin goulash. This is a stew consisting of pork and sauerkraut, and is served with steamed dumplings. Steamed dumplings are very typical of the Czech and Slovak kitchens. They are called knedle in our language. They are little tedious to prepare (since you need to wait for the dough to rise) but will give your dish quite a different character. Knedle are used to soak up juices in your dish and as such go really well with stews and saucy dishes. You will also find them served with stuffed peppers. And of course, there is the Slovak national dish, bryndzové halušky. This is something I always make sure to order when I visit Slovakia. Unfortunately, the main ingredient, bryndza cheese, is not widely available in the United States and must be special ordered. Bryndza is also used to make pierogi. Finally, Slovaks love to eat rezeň, meaning breaded steak or schnitzel. There are many varieties but one that I particularly like is schnitzel with bacon and cheese.
Finally, when it comes to breakfast and snacks, I recommend you try hemendex. It consists of few slices of fried ham over which you cook couple eggs sunny side up. It makes for a good alternative to scrambled eggs or an omelet. I also like making potato pancakes. These are similar to latkes, but are seasoned with few additional spices such as garlic, marjoram, onion and black pepper. You can serve them with soup if you are looking for a light dinner.
slovakcooking.com is dedicated to traditional Slovak recipes. If you are interested in Slovak recipes with an American twist, check out my friend’s Slovak-American fusion recipe site.
What are your favorite Slovak dishes? Let me know and share with others.
My favorite Slovak dish is my Grandmother’s caraway seed soup. The flavor is amazing.
My favorite is potato dumplings.
Lubos — Did you get my email with the recipe for the pork & potato sausage?
Lubos, I am an old Slovak and I love to cook. I like your web site I may post some recipes from “old country” Cheers.
I think my favorite has to be a toss up between Svickova, Bryndzove Halusky and Kapustnica. I doubt I could pick just one….
Having a family Facebook page, I will post your web site to all members. Great page, keep going!
I remember machanka as being a type of cabbage soup.
My favorite has always been pirohi. I can’t get enough. Does anybody know anything about dishes called “macanka” (mushroom gravy, pronounced with a ch–I don’t have a hacek) or
“bobajki” (dough balls with poppy seeds)?
Love, love, love droby. (potato sausage) I think my family makes the best!
People of several countries prepare meat cooked in cabbage leaves- halupki, galupki, golumpki- most include white rice. Is this a Slovak dish? Is it a very old dish, and was rice the original grain? I don’t know if rice was widely available long ago, and wonder if buckwheat or barley was used instead. I’d like the oldest recipe I can find.
Greeks, too, cook meat in leaves- dolmas, lamb in grape leaves.
Hi Ron, this dish is called holubky in Slovak, but it’s more widely known as plnená kapusta or stuffed cabbage. I believe it’s predominantly prepared in the eastern part of Slovakia. It consists of cabbage, meat, onions, eggs, tomato sauce, spices, and yes – rice. I don’t know when rice entered the Slovak cuisine, but rice has been used widely in Slovakia during my lifetime, hence for the last 30 years. I’ll keep you posted if I find out more.
LOL about Hemendex – would you believe some people have no idea where the name come from or what it means?
Tak parene buchty su jedno z mojich najoblubenejsich jedal…och Boze, keby mi ich tak niekto urobil, skoda, ze moja mama je tak daleko na Slovensku!!!!
I am very excited about these slovak recipies, and is there some way to buy it as a book with the ilustrations ?
Thank you,
Olga
Hi Olga, thank you! I would like to put together a cookbook or at least downloadable recipe cards, but I don’t presently have the time. But keep checking. I may have one ready before summer.
I Slovak it is called Cirak and is made with eggs, milk, salt & pepper. My mother would add a pinch sugar and vanilla extract. It was a favorite on Easter morning.
I just got done making a traditional recipe passed on to me by my late father. I do not know its origin or if it has the right name. The night before easter I make what can best be descibed as giant scrambled eggballs squeezed in cheesecloth and drained to form a sort of egg cheese. This is then cut into pieces with polish sausage,ham and easter eggs and fried in buuter.I always heard this called PUSKA.Does this ring a bell with anone? This is served once a year at EASTER.
Hi Anthony, this will be this mysterious substance commonly referred to as Easter Cheese. It is something that I’ve heard many other (second generation?) Slovaks mention, but is not something that I am familiar with. I have never ever seen, tasted, or even known anyone to prepare it. Anyway, there are various recipes on Greg’s It’s All Relative site, for instance, http://www.iarelative.com/sirok.htm. I hope that helps!
Hello lubos,
Thank you for the website you provided.This gave me some answers and had recipes very much like what I make. My father also made Halusky that was made with cabbage and some sort of dumplings sort of a thick cabbage soup. I am not sure about the spelling though. Some day you should try some Easter cheese as it is very good and worth keeping the tradition going.
It called Pascha, eastern Orthodox traditional meal, made out of cheese.
Thanks Melania, that would explain why I have never heard of it. Most of Slovakia is Catholic (excluding the large atheist population) with the exception of the Orthodox Rusyns in the east. I am not particularly religious but my grandparents are Catholic and I was brought up with Catholic traditions. Since many Slovaks in the USA are descendants of folks from the eastern part of Slovakia, it makes sense that they would bring with them these eastern traditions.
just to say thankyou thankyou thankyou i’ve been tryin to find the right czech dumpling recipe for quite some time and none that i have tried worked till i tried yours …spot on..worked first attempt and made me feel like i was back in prague
my grandmother made noodles for chicken soup by mixing flour, salt, pepper, eggs and water into a ball. She then dipped the ball in flour and used the large holes on the grater to make little round noodles which she threw into boiling salted water. They are so good with homemade chicken soup. She called them drupsie – I am sure I am spelling it wrong. I love your site.
Do you have the recipe for nutrolls and poppyseed rolls that she made??? I would love to have these again!
Here you go, my grandma’s poppy and nut roll recipe.
I know that recipe, we called that Struhanicka. It’s quick and taste good.
So glad to find your site! I am third generation Slovak and was lucky that my mom taught me how to make all these wonderful foods1 Although I only recently learned how to make bryndzové halušky or at least a variation, since bryndza is very difficult to find here! Easter cheese is definitely an Eastern Slovak dish…called hrudka or cirek depending on where you are from. The Pascha is the Easter bread. Its also traditional Rusyn which is definitely found only in northeastern part of Slovakia, southern Poland and Ukraine.
Thank you very much, Loretta. It’s great to see that your family was able to pass on its traditions through three generations. When it comes to halusky, try them with cooked sauerkraut. They are very good like that, and also more healthy.
If Christopher is still around, from January, Mačanka and bolbalki are 2 dishes we serve Christmas Eve. The bolbalki are little baked pieces of dough ( I use leftover kolače dough) that you dip briefly in boiling water and then toss with honey and poppyseed! Mačanka is what we use for the base of our Christmas Eve soup. It is a zapraška base (roux) mixed with mushrooms and then water and some sauerkraut to make a slightly sour soup
Can any one please tell me some slovakian dishes made using fish ??
Indi, there are many so not sure how to answer your question.
Some basic facts:
Slovakia is inland country and thus only fresh water fish apply for a traditional recipes (not that Slovaks don’t cook seafood.)
It’s true that other “meat” is used more frequently, in descending order I think it would be pork, chicken, lamb, beef, fish, etc. so fish is kind of low in cooking order but it’s there.
Main fish used in Slovak cooking is trout (as you can fish it in Slovak rivers) and carp that is mostly raised in man made large ponds and lakes.
The way you do fish in Slovak cooking again in descending order, is frying, broiling/baking, and then some boiling (in fish stews)
I like a bunch of trout recipes made “old country way” like trout wrapped in bacon and baked or trout grilled with mushroom fill, etc. ”
For Holidays like Christmas, it would be a fried fish, served with potatoes salad or mashed potatoes.
In fish stews (not much used) you brown the fish, then sauté the onion, add some sliced celery, green pepper, tomatoes, cauliflower, some spices, and add the fish some water, and stew it.
Oh BTW, usual side dish for fish (again in descending order) mashed potatoes, potatoes salad, rice, or just good old bread.
Hi Loretta,
Thank you for your reply. Lubos also posted a Bolbalki recipe…haven’t made them yet, but I will. My parents will go wild, I’m sure. What kind of mushrooms do you suggest for the Macanka?
Just tumbled on this website looking for info for granddaughter report. I’m 1st generation Slovak, many dishes we continue to do w/different variations. Christopher question;(Does anybody know anything about dishes called “macanka” (mushroom gravy, pronounced with a ch–I don’t have a hacek) or
“bobajki” (dough balls with poppy seeds)?)Our version; Machunka – thick gravy from left over meat trimmings used to dip homemade bread into? The bobajka- dried dough balls/squares, brought back by steaming and adding sourkrout at Christmas dinner along with mushroom soup from dried mushrooms, sourkrout, tomatoes, etc.
I love it!
Hello Lubos and vsem,
I’m trying to write about vanocni cukrovi/ Christmas cookies for the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library’s Christmas newsletter – but I don’t have any good recipes for vanilkove rohliky, vosi hnizda or pracny which use the American measurements and temperatures (and not the European ones) – can you help?
Seeing as you have such a fantastic collection of recipes up already – and so many blog followers – I turn to you! I’ll most certainly credit you for your recipes and send you a copy or two of our finished newsletter (not to mention a box of vosi hnizda, if you give me a yummy-enough recipe!)
I will go for few hours to Bratislava from Vienna. I wonder, what is the “must try” dish you recommend for lunch? Thanks in advance,
MKL
You must try Bryndzove halušky! Try the Slovak Pub in Bratislava if possible!
I second this. Slovak Pub is a definitely a place to visit, due to its decor. The food is so-so. If you have time, go visit some salaš or koliba outside the city limits. These are the traditional Slovak restaurants, where you can get really tasty halušky. You should also try Hungarian goulash (maďarský guláš), and of course, the sweets in pastry shops.
@Loretta: Thank you very much
I’ll try to find that pub 
Posts in other thread made me thinking about what really is Slovak cooking. It can go from simple meals, using just a few basic ingredients to rather sophisticated meals, all depending on what you have available.
I think it was always that way through the history, where you had well doing segments of society, and then not so well doing segments but all of them had to eat. Then there were times when everybody went through “lean” times e.g., after wars, and yet we had to cook and feed ourselves.
I know, it’s the same in all countries and societies but Slovak cuisine is really flexible and even simple meals are rather tasty. When you think about it, even our national hallmark food “halusky” is based on simple ingredients (potatoes, flour, cheese, and maybe some bacon).
You can make “kapustnicu” really simple way, no meat at all or just a few low grade meats like smoked pig feet, etc.
There are many meals like that. It was a joy and feast when the first new potatoes showed on a market and the main meal was “new boiled potatoes, with a bit butter over it, sprinkled with freshly cut parsley and a glass of sour milk (kefir)”. Anybody remembers “leco”? Some tomatoes, some peppers, some potatoes, add an egg (if you have it) and that’s it.
The point is that each meal starts with some “base” that is built on easily available ingredients. In Slovakia it would be potatoes, cabbage, vegetables, flour, and maybe bacon, cheese, or some fat. You can make a tasty meals just from that that will sustain you. But then, if available, you can add some meat, and make some more sophisticated recipe.
Of course that brings roasting, baking, barbequing, stewing the meat, making sauces and gravy, using creams, sour creams, etc. Later on you use spices that were not available in old times in Slovakia, and make recipes even more elaborate.
Yes, that’s a Slovak cuisine. From simple to sophisticated, and all (at least to me) taste good.
Many of you had not that experience (growing up after WWII) Those were not “plentiful times” I was eight years old and I marched every morning to local diary store with coupons in my hand (government issued “listky”) as there was rationing and that was the only way to buy milk and maybe some butter. If I was late, there would not be any milk, as there was a limited supply.
Not sure ny of you remember walking into grocery store and there was nothing on shelves, or going to butcher and not being able to get a slice of good meat. Yet, we had to cook and feed ourselves.
That butcher and grocery store scenario continued until we left Slovakia in 1978. I befriend the local butcher, we always had a few drinks on me, and ev3n in that case it was “hey, come on Tuesday, I may have some fresh beef, and if I do, I’ll cut you a piece of it”
Anybody remembers “potatoes order in the fall?” It was that way until 1970′s. In a fall you asked for one or two bags of potatoes (depending on a size of your family, and there were limits how much you could get) and then you got it and you must kept it in a sound state as it was supposed to keep your through the winter.
Yes, you could buy some more at a store (if they had it) but the price was way too high, and stores did not have even that simple stuff like potatoes on a regular basis.
No we did not starve, and we cooked and ate, and it was quite OK and tasty.
Yep, that a Slovak Cooking and Food, make the best from what you have and if you have some more make it better.
Thank you for sharing your memories. Even though I also grew up while the country was still communist, my experiences were much different from yours. I have never experienced any shortages in the markets, except perhaps with the exception of luxury items like color TVs. To get those, you really had to know the store owners who would put them aside. But when it came to food, there were no shortages. And folks my sister’s age basically grew up after the fall of communism. It’s interesting to see how quickly things change.
Thank you – Leco – of course! It is so simple and SO good! I have to make it more often!
yes, I like it too, simple, healthy, and good tasting.
Oh BTW, I am sure that even younger folks remember the routine, we’ve got through the week cooking some “stuff” but then came the weekend and better food and meat was cooked/served. It may have been not much, but I remember having “Vienna schnitzel” and potato salad with cucumber on a side. That’s how I knew it must be Sunday
Oh, even rabbits I raised and took care off were served only on weekends.
Oh, never mind Holidays, Christmas was special, and so was Easter. We had more food than usual, don’t know how we did it (to get ingredients) but we did.
Miro, you have same memories as I do. I remember getting up at 4:00 AM and went to corner butcher store and stand in line waiting for pork for Sunday wiener schnitzel, and maybe, maybe some beef for soup, by time store was open there were 100 people, I lived in Bratislava, from meat store here we go to Zelovoc for potatoes, oranges??? hahaha, maybe apples. Meantime milk store run out of milk, what a luck and half of day was gone.
In Bratislava you can get best Bryndzove halusky restaurant na Kolibe or “Maly Frantiskani” downtown by Manderla building in a basement-excelent.
restaurant na Kolibe is good for Slovak food.
Oh my, tell me about “Maly Frantiskani”. When in college (65 to 70) we spend many nights there just drinking vine, singing, talking and having some garlic toasts, and sometime when we felt really rich we threw in a Tatar beefsteak. I never had halusky there.
Just be careful (no matter of what age you are) steps are steep and narrow. It was fun watching drunk folks trying to get down or up, and it included me in old times
Om my, memories. Melania, we maybe even crossed our path in the past. I lived in Bratislava from 1965 through 1978 when we left the country.
cheers
I will tell my son, Michal, he is in Bratislava now and when in Slovakia, he lives for Bryndzové halušky!
I lived in Bratislava from 1945-1969, when we left Bratislava. I lived in Koliba, Strkovec a Palisady.
Melania, you have heads on me living in Bratislava, I lived my young years in central Slovakia, and came to Bratislava when starting my college education in 1965, after serving in military, don’t want to bother folks of details, say Racinska and Lamac.
One thing we agree on, things were changing but when it comes to food, there were shortages. It may be related to distribution and locations.
Bratislava was big and butcher stores were scarce, and thus a lack of supply. When it comes to vegetables it was a joke. We had a Zelevoc across the street (in Lamac development) not much to buy, some of veggies rotten and some not available. It was in 1977.
My father in law (bless his heart he is in better place now) when he retired, he went early in the morning to shop for meat, don’t remember what was that meat store called, it was at the bottom of Manderlak building right in the middle of downtown, I think banks owns he building, next to today’s “farmers market”
My Father in Law marched there every morning to get some meat, and even chicken stuff ran out when he was late.
It all changed in later years, and it’s definitely better, though for some folks in old country it was still cost prohibitive at that time.
It was not only food shortages but appliances as stoves, refrigerators, washers,TV set, we were taking turns in line between some family members early morning until store open, that morning came 6 tv’s and I was number 15, so you know no TV that day, it was year 1961. Now they have everything, but morality is low, crime is high and so on, so on.